John camidge



(N0 Model.)

. J. AMIDGE.

ORGAN GOUPLER. No. 251,027. Patented Dec. 20,1881.

Elli-.11:22:12

)aanwaw Il? fnpeno'ff 2 WYE.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN OAMIDGE, OF BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO, CANADA.

OReAN-COUPLER.

SPECIFICATION forming pa'rt of Letters Patent No. 251,02*?, datedDecember 20, 1881.

Application filed July 27, 1881. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN CAMIDGE, of Bowmanville, in the countyofDurham, in the Province of Ontario, in the Dominion ot' Canada, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Organ-Couplers; aud I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the same.

Figure l is an elevation. Fig. 2 is a plan, and Fig. 3 is a verticalsection on line a a of Fig. 2.

The invention consists, in combination with other elements, ashereinafter described and claimed, of a coupler whereby, when playing,say, three notes with one hand only, the octave of the lowest note shallbe coupled-that is to say, the octaves of the two higher notes shall beuncoupled-the object of the invention being to prevent disagreeablythickening 7 the harmony by the multiplication of sounding octaves.

A are the keys of the manual, bearing on the inclined end of acoupler-lever, B, rocking between fulcruins a a to lift the opposite endof the lever by the depression of the key, and which end operates theescapeinenthereinafter described to open the valve of the note to besounded by lifting the connecting-bar O, arranged in the ordinarymanner.

The escapement is composed of a series of iiat levers, D, of the yformof an inverted T, placed laterally apart, onev end fulcrumed to bracketsF, corresponding in number to the number of levers, which levers have avertical movement, the free end being lifted by the free end of lever B.

G are fixed brackets, each supporting a lever, H, pivotally connected atthe ends, said lever having a free end which is bent or formed at rightangle to have contact with the vertical arm of levers D, and whichlevers H are keptl of the coupler any key that may be under pressurehigher up toward middle C, thus making the octave of the lowest keyunder pressure the real fundamental note sounded. Byreversing thecoupling-lever and mechanism to couple up, similar results are obtainedin the treble, where by the use of this invention only the top noteunder pressure, whatever it may be, would sound its octave above.

The levers `D support pitmen K, one end bent to a double-crank form toconnect loosely with levers D laterally, and which pitmen pass freelythrough a hole in levers H.

L are spiral springs connecting with the crank of pitmen K and the outerextremity of leversD, the contraction of the spring returning the pitmantoa vertical position after being thrown to an inclined position by theinward movement of levers H.

In ordinary cases of coupling, three keys struck with one hand wouldsound six notes. With the coupler herein described only four notes wouldsound. lhus in playing the common chord of G with the left hand, thethumb depressing G, first line, the fourth finger the octave lower, theoctaves of B and D used in the chord would be released and only theoctave of the lower G sounded. The coupler-lever B and the other leversconnect the key A with its valve-bar, and by operation disconnect thevalve-bars from operation by their respective levers, so that when the Anote is depressed, supposing it to be the lowest note struck, A willsound and also its octave, and all the notes between A and its octavewill not be affected by the coupler, thus making the octave of thelowest key the real fundamental note sounded, thereby improving theharmony, which is now impaired by the sound of the intermediate coupledoctaves. When too many notes sound harmony is thickened. The strengthlies in the octave ot' the lowest note played with the left hand and theoctave of the highest note of the right hand.

In an organ without a coupler the foot-pedal is used to sound the onenote which I now sound with the finger, and in organs with couplers eachnote, roughly speaking, is coupled to its own octave, and thereby toomany notes sound. In the coupler herein described, if more than one keyis depressed with one hand, only IOO one coupled note is sounded, andthat one the lowest played with the left hand or the highest with theright hand.

The operation is as follows: Referring to the bass of the in anual, thelowest key being depressed, its lever B will lift its lever D and pitmanK vertically, the pitman thereby open-- ing` its valve-bar C, and at thesame time the lever D will move inwardly all the levers I-I above it,thereby inclining the pitmen free from the ends of the bars C. Thesprings L assist to bring the pitmen vertically under the bars C whenthe pressure on the lowest key struck is released.

It is obvious that, after the ends of the pitmen have been carried clearot' the ends of bars G by the combined inward movement of levers H,depression of any ofthe keys above the lowest one struck will produce nomove ment of the bars (l, and therefore the notes will not be sounded.

I have herein described my device as applied to the bass; but byreversing the levers B it can be applied likewise to the treble. Thisescapement can be used under the front, also on the top, as well as atthe back of the keys, with the same effect as represented in thedrawings. In the upper octave of the bass-register,

in which middle C is the top note, any key or collection of keys putdown, the lowest key alone takes its octave-key below and releases allthe others. In reversing the levers and mechanism an opposite resultwould be obtainedthe top or treble key would take its octave above andlet off all the others.

I claim as my invention- In combination with the key-board of an organ,the coupler-levers B, pivoted levers H, having projections J, levers D,provided with pitmen K, passing through levers H, and the valve-bars C,all constructed and arranged substantially as described,whereby,inplaying several keys ofthe key-board at the same time, the coupler-leverof the lowest bass-key or of the highest treble-key will operate itsvalvebar, but will displace or cause an escapement of all the pitmen ofthe valve-bars of the others above or below, as the case may be, so thatthe lowest bass-n cte or highcsttreblenote only of the series will becoupled andthe others sounded singly.

JOHN GAMIDGE.

Witnesses:

S'r. JOHN H. HUToHEsoN, A. MACNAB.

